Devouring Soul Emperor

Inside a valley in the Mist Forest, a lone Martial Artist from the Martial Soul Hall had been crippled by two Great Xia Dragon Guards and an Examiner. They hadn’t killed him, but instead surrounded him.

"Speak! Where exactly are the Martial Artists from your Martial Soul Hall hiding?"

The man from the Martial Soul Hall looked terrified. He stammered, "I-I don’t know, my lords, I really don’t know. But I can trade you another piece of vital information for my life—I know the location of those three from the Zhao Family!"

What!?

The location of those three from the Zhao Family!

The two Great Xia Dragon Guards and the Examiner were stunned. Their minds were instantly filled with thoughts of over ten thousand Military Merits, and they even forgot to consider why this man would know something so important.

"Speak! Hurry up and tell us! Where are Zhao Hanfeng and the other two!"

"Zhao Yunhao is by a pool to the east, Zhao Tianjie is in a forest of red trees to the west, and Zhao Hanfeng is in a field of rubble to the north. My lords, I’ve told you everything I know. I beg you, please spare me..."

After speaking, the Martial Artist from the Martial Soul Hall prostrated himself on the ground, kowtowing repeatedly as he begged for his life.

However, what no one noticed was that after he lowered his head, a look of mockery and hatred filled his eyes.

’You want Military Merits?’

’Keep dreaming! You’re all going to die! You’ll all die at the hands of your own people!’

SWISH!

With a cold look in his eyes, one of the Great Xia Dragon Guards swung his blade and lopped off the Martial Soul Hall Martial Artist’s head. "Heh heh, spare you? And what if you leak this crucial information to someone else?"

"Brothers, what do you think we should do now?" the other, slightly older Great Xia Dragon Guard asked in a low voice.

"What else can we do? We’re going after those three brats with the surname Zhao, of course!"

"That’s right, big brother! That’s over ten thousand Military Merits! This is an opportunity that could completely change our lives. If we miss it, we’ll regret it for the rest of our days!"

"Alright. Since you both feel that way, let’s go for it. We’ll snatch those brats’ Military Merits!"

After a brief discussion, the three of them charged eastward, setting their sights on their first target: Zhao Yunhao.

Meanwhile, similar incidents were happening all over the valley.

After pushing the Zhao brothers’ Military Merits past the ten-thousand mark, the people from the Martial Soul Hall slowed the rate at which they "gifted" them merits.

Furthermore, they had also dispatched certain people specifically to leak the trio’s location.

The poor Zhao Hanfeng and his brothers were still immersed in the joy of acquiring so many Military Merits, still admiring and worshiping their ancestor’s methods. They had no idea they had already become bait for the Zhao Family Ancestor.

At that moment, nearly all the Great Xia Dragon Guards and Examiners in the valley were like sharks that had caught the scent of blood, rapidly converging on the Zhao brothers’ locations.

After killing that squad of Martial Soul Hall Martial Artists, Chu Qingyun deactivated the power of his Thousand-faced Martial Soul and reverted to his own appearance.

His Military Merits had risen to fourth place. Based on how the situation was developing, as long as his merits weren’t stolen, passing the assessment and becoming a Great Xia Dragon Guard was practically guaranteed.

However, one of the five Guard Captain spots was now out of his reach.

The two Level Nine Martial Artist Examiners were certain to become captains, and with the top three spots in Military Merits held by the three from the Zhao Family, that made for exactly five people.

’Could this all be an elaborate scheme set up by the Zhao Family, just to make those three become captains?’

Chu Qingyun pondered this but felt that something wasn’t quite right.

After searching the valley for a while, he suddenly noticed a bush to his side shaking, and he faintly heard the sound of somewhat panicked footsteps.

Chu Qingyun immediately gripped the hilt of his sword, his senses on full alert.

The situation in the valley was growing stranger by the minute. Chu Qingyun didn’t dare to be the slightest bit careless.

But after getting a clear look at the newcomer, he quietly breathed a sigh of relief.

The person emerging from the bushes was none other than Wen Yanlie, the Level Nine Martial Artist Examiner with the Defense-type Martial Soul who had sought him out before the third stage of the assessment.

At this moment, Wen Yanlie’s clothes were torn in several places, and his face was covered in dirt. His previous calm and composed demeanor was gone, replaced by an air of utter desperation.

"Chu, you’re here!?" 𝚏𝕣𝐞𝗲𝐰𝕖𝐛𝐧𝕠𝕧𝚎𝚕.𝐜𝚘𝗺

Seeing Chu Qingyun, Wen Yanlie’s face immediately lit up with a mixture of shock and joy.

Unlike Chu Qingyun, he was being hunted, so his mind was highly focused, concentrating fully on sensing the Qi of other Martial Artists around him.

But even so, he hadn’t detected Chu Qingyun’s Qi in the slightest! This made Wen Yanlie’s estimation of Chu Qingyun rise even higher.

Chu Qingyun smiled. Although he relaxed his guard slightly, he didn’t rashly approach. "Wen, did you run into a large force from the Martial Soul Hall? How did you end up in such a sorry state?"

Hearing this, Wen Yanlie couldn’t help but shake his head and give a bitter smile. "If it were just those Martial Artists from the Martial Soul Hall, they wouldn’t be able to make me flee like a stray dog. I’m being hunted by three Great Xia Dragon Guards."

’Hunted by Great Xia Dragon Guards?’

Chu Qingyun furrowed his brow and asked in confusion, "The Great Xia Dragon Guards are our allies. Why would they be hunting you? It couldn’t be for... your handful of Military Merits, could it?"

"My few dozen Military Merits aren’t enough to get a Guard Captain involved. They’re hunting me for a secret!"

Wen Yanlie said, his eyes fixed firmly on Chu Qingyun.

Chu Qingyun, however, also remained silent, watching Wen Yanlie with a placid expression.

It was a kind of game. Chu Qingyun had a good idea of what Wen Yanlie was planning. In a situation like this, whoever couldn’t hold back and spoke first would undoubtedly be at a disadvantage.

After they stared at each other for a moment, Wen Yanlie finally broke, smiling bitterly. "Earlier, I severely injured a Level Eight Martial Artist from the Martial Soul Hall. While interrogating him, I learned a huge secret. But my look of surprise was seen by three Great Xia Dragon Guards, and that’s why they’ve been hunting me ever since."

"Chu, how about we cooperate? We can share the secret and drive off those three Great Xia Dragon Guards."

Chu Qingyun mulled it over for a moment before saying, "What’s the secret? Tell me first."

"The locations of the three people ranked highest in Military Merits!"

Hearing this, a sharp glint flashed in Chu Qingyun’s eyes. In his excitement, his control over his Hidden Qi Technique even wavered for a moment.

Zhao Hanfeng and his brothers were weak. Knowing their locations was as good as obtaining their Military Merits—over ten thousand of them!

Chu Qingyun’s eyes flickered as he quickly thought through a few things.

It was easy to understand why Wen Yanlie would seek to cooperate with him instead of the Great Xia Dragon Guards who were hunting him.

To secure a larger share of the benefits, cooperating with someone weaker than yourself but still helpful was clearly better than cooperating with someone of similar or even greater strength.

And in his eyes, Chu Qingyun was just such a choice.

After a moment of consideration, Chu Qingyun nodded lightly. "Alright, I’ll cooperate with you."

But just then, three whooshing sounds cut through the air as three figures burst out of the mist.